有时候尽管你认识一个短语的每一个词,但你未必知道这个短语的真正含义。下面这些美国短语的实际意思都和字面意思相差甚远,让外国人一头雾水。 Shoot the breeze 闲扯 When Americans 'shoot the breeze,' they talk about unimportant things for a long time. This phrase pertains to late-19th-century slang when 'breeze' meant 'rumor.' By the 1910s, the windy word came to mean 'empty chatter.' 例句: It's nice shoot the breeze with an old friend. 跟老朋友聊天是很美好的事。 They chew the fat , shoot the breeze and swap anecdotes about random subjects : work, family, news, weather, hobbies, etc. 人们就工作 、 家庭 、 新闻 、 天气 、 爱好等聊聊天, 侃侃 大山, 交换一些奇闻轶事。
'Ballpark figure' is a sports-related phrase. No, a 'ballpark figure' isn't a synonym for 'baseball player.' It's actually a financial term referring to a rough numerical estimate. 例句: How many? Could you give me a ballpark figure? 多少人? 能给我个大致数目 吗 ? I can only give you a ballpark figure. I'd say around $ 600. 我只能给你一个大概的数字。我想大约600美元左右. Sounds like a broken record 一遍又一遍地重复 If someone 'sounds like a broken record,' they are probably repeating themselves. When a record is broken, it repeats the same line over and over again. 例句: You know , I sound like a broken record here , but percentages are key, as well. 你看, 我一次又一次的说道,发球的成功率也是关键. A bat out of hell 飞速移动的人或物 If someone is moving extremely fast, they are called 'a bat out of hell.' People use 'a bat out of hell' when someone or something is moving especially fast. Since bats typically like the dark and avoid light, they would fly quickly away from hell that is presumably lit by flames. The saying became so popular that American singer Meat Loaf titled one of his most famous songs 'Bat Out of Hell.' 例句: He took off for Helsinki like a bat out of hell. 他飞快赶往赫尔辛基。 He dashed around like a bat out of hell. 他发疯似的横冲直撞。 It's not rocket science 这很好懂 When something is easy to understand, they might say 'it's not rocket science.' This phrase, which gained popularity in the 1980s towards the end of the Cold War, refers to when something isn't that difficult to understand. 例句: It was just sewing through meat, which is a little weird, but it's not rocket science. 虽然只是通过缝纫把肉联在一起有点怪异, 但它一点也不难。 For the birds 微不足道 If something is trivial or worthless, Americans say it's 'for the birds.' The phrase was first used as US army slang during World War II. 例句: The Pulitzer is for the birds. 普利策奖是发给那些乳臭未干的小崽子的。 |
|
来自: 昵称22998329 > 《待分类》